Best Value LegislationThe Best Value legislation (section 208A of the Local Government Act 1989) was introduced in 1999.

The principles of the legislation state:

All services must meet quality and cost standards;

All services must be responsive to community needs;

All services must be accessible to those for whom they are intended;

A council must achieve continuous improvement in its provision of services;

A council must develop a program of regular consultation with its community in relation to the services it provides; and

At least once every year a Council must report to its community on what it has done to ensure that it has given effect to the Best Value Principles.

All councils were required to apply the principles to all of the services they provide on or before 31 December 2005. The ministerial codes guiding the implementation have since been revoked, however the legislation itself remains in place.

To provide best value to the community and establish a culture of continuous improvement we adopted the Business Excellence Framework.

Business Excellence FrameworkThe Business Excellence Framework describes the essential leadership and management elements an organisation needs to achieve sustainable service delivery excellence.

The framework

creates and supports an environment for continuous improvement;

provides a basis against which Council can monitor its progress towards the achievement of excellence in service delivery; and

addresses our key systems and processes and is regularly reviewed to ensure its relevance and usefulness in a changing Council environment.

Best Value at WorkTo ensure best value is delivered to the community we embedded the principles into everyday activities like procurement. Additionally our council and business planning processes have a strong focus on the principles outlined in the legislation.

We've undertaken reviews to identify service enhancements and improvements including: